Unstable
by Embracethehate
Summary: Bren Malfoy is...different. Even from her family, she's always getting cautious glances, as if she's a ticking time bomb. Why can't she control her emotions? Why does she always wreck things? Can she handle the power she has or will she let it control her? Or worse, are others plotting to control it?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Just an idea that came to me. This is a short chapter. The next chapter will expand more on Bren's history though. **

Scorpius Malfoy was already beating on the door to his younger sister's room. It was barely 6am, and a Saturday.

"Get UP, Bren!" he shouted. He only heard a muffled muttering sound from the other side of the door. He scowled. She really did need to get her butt out of bed. They were expecting their Hogwarts letters today. Of course, Scorpius's letter would just be his school supplies list. But he KNEW Bren would get her acceptance letter. She had to. He'd prove her wrong, finally.

Finally, the eleven year old girl emerged. Her hair was a pale blonde tangled mess, cascading down to her waist. She liked it that way, so that's how it stayed, no matter how many times Mrs. Malfoy tried to sort it out.

"Come on, let's get breakfast." He said. Bren followed him. She didn't talk much. It was kind of a recent thing for her. She was working on keeping her life as calm as possible so as not to have an…outburst.

Bren couldn't help her outbursts. Typically, young witches and wizards have a hard time controlling their magic and can make things happen without meaning to. But when Bren almost leveled an entire village during a tantrum, her family grew concerned. In fact, bad things happened pretty much any time she experienced an emotion higher than _mildly happy._

She did have a hard time containing her jealousy towards Scorpius though. He would be starting his third year of Hogwarts this September. He had friends, was a chaser on the Quidditch team (Slytherin, naturally) and had the perfect grades in all his classes.

But he loved her. Ever since they were toddlers, he looked out for her and he was the only person besides her parents that she trusted. Sometimes she trusted him more than her parents. They just understood each other. Except he was obsessed with the idea that Bren would be joining him at Hogwarts. It was a lovely thought, sure. But it just wasn't going to happen.

Why would they let someone in who could probably demolish the whole school as soon as she had a bad day? Thank goodness her father had put charms all over their house to keep things from breaking or catching fire or…exploding or whatever, or the house would be in pieces. Would they think to do these things at Hogwarts? Would they even want to go to the trouble just for one student?

As Bren and Scorpius quietly ate the breakfast a house elf brought them, a large owl swooped into the window.

He carried a single envelope. Bren tried to pretend she didn't even notice the large bird perched on the window sill. She tried not to notice that the name on the envelope clearly read _Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. _She also tried not to notice Scorpius's nervous eyes on her as he opened the letter. But Bren was fine. She was expecting to not get a letter. And that's exactly what had happened. Things were exactly as they should be and that's how she liked it.

A few moments of silence passed, as Scorpius tried to think of something to say. But Bren just calmly finished eating and pushed her plate away. As if on cue, a house elf came and snatched the empty plate from the table.

"Bren, I- hey, look!" he jumped from his seat and pointed at another large owl flying towards their window. Bren's eyes widened.

The letter dropped neatly on the table. Bren stared at the pretty lettering on the front.

_Cassiopeia Brenna Malfoy_

She cringed slightly at the sight of her first name, a family name. Her mother had picked it. Her father had hated it, claiming it had too many syllables, thus choosing the simplest middle name he could think of.

But then the realization hit her. She really was going to Hogwarts. Excitement bubbled up in her and she grinned. The house shook slightly…but she didn't take any notice. At least that would wake her parents up so she could tell them the news.

"I'm going to school." She whispered, amazed. Scorpius threw his arms around her and the bounded upstairs to wake their parents.

**A/N: And that's the end of the chapter! Please let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Second chapter!**

It seemed as if the time between the day they received their letters and they day they would leave for Hogwarts was standing still. Bren marked a day off her calendar each day, and was already packed and ready at least a week early.

Finally the day had come. As much as she wanted to run and jump and scream, she contained herself as best she could. A fairly difficult task for someone so excited.

"And you have your books?" Astoria Malfoy asked, for maybe the thousandth time.

"Yes, mother."

"Enough robes?"

"Yes, mother."

"Did you remember—"

"I've checked everything at LEAST a dozen times, mother." Bren said, growing annoyed at the constant hovering. Was it just her imagination, or did they do this way more with her than with her brother?

"Bren, darling. Listen for a moment." Her mother took her hand, getting the girl's attention. Bren sighed dramatically and looked up.

"You know we love you, and your gifts. But the other students…" she hesitated, "they may have heard things, and they may not know what to say. Please try not to let them get to you."

Bren knew that meant "please don't blow up the school." She wouldn't. They'd probably cart her off to St. Mungos. And she'd spent _enough_ time there.

She shuddered slightly at the thought. After the incident with the muggle village, ministry authorities ordered that she spend at least a few weeks at St. Mungo's, being checked out by "the finest" healers the magical world had to offer. They ran test after annoying test. All of which were inconclusive. They couldn't figure out why exactly Bren's magic was so deeply influenced by her emotions. All wizards' magic had was affected by emotion on some level. But at most, only minor incidents happened.

"They just don't understand that you're gifted." Draco Malfoy had told her, when she was finally released. She clung to him until they were save at the Malfoy Manor again, terrified the healers would change their minds and want her back.

"Gifted?" she'd asked.

"Of course! You're a Malfoy!"

Bren liked to think of it that way. It only made sense for Malfoys to be special.

* * *

Standing on platform 9 and ¾ was a strange experience for Bren. She wasn't really accustomed to large crowds and she hid behind her father's robes as he talked with old school mates. Bren knew they'd heard the rumors about her, as they eyed her warily during these conversations. Draco either never noticed or was an exceptionally good actor. Bren had a hard time deciding.

"Bren, hurry and say good bye." Scorpius groaned. "We need to find a good compartment."

This only made Bren clutch tighter to her father's robes. She felt safe for the moment, surrounded by her family.

With much coaxing, her parents managed to get her onto the train. Several goodbyes later, she and Scorpius found an empty compartment and got themselves settled as they waited for the train to depart.

"Nervous?" Scorpius asked. Bren nodded just a bit. She sometimes wondered if he minded her being such a terrible conversationalist. She pulled her knees up to her chest and stared out the window at the other families bidding farewell to their children. It was nice to watch them from inside this safe little area. She did jolt just a bit as the train slowly started to leave the station, picking up speed with every second.

"You'll be fine, Bren. You'll be in Slytherin with me. And I'll be close by if you need anything at all. Plus the Zabinis are in Slytherin. You remember them, right? They'll probably on their way to find us shortly."

She remembered the Zabinis. Frankly, she wasn't particularly fond of them. Soren was the same year as Scorpio. He tried to act like a grown up and constantly wanted to know what Scorpio thought about dumb things like politics and the ministry and whatnot. Bren and Scorpio would always secretly mock him after visits with the family.

Charlotte was a 2nd year, and she was convinced that Bren was her best friend. At the same time, however, she made it her mission in life to try and get a rise out of Bren, just to see what would happen. She was terribly obvious about it and Bren just ignored her and played on her own.

Suddenly, a dark-haired boy walked past the compartment and made eye contact so briefly with Scorpio that Bren thought she'd imagined it. However, Scorpio abruptly stood up.

"I…um…I just remembered something. I'll be back. Stay. Here." He told her firmly. She glared at him and he just rolled his eyes, "Don't give me that. You'll be fine, just tell anyone who tries to come in here that you'll light them on fire."

With that, he disappeared. Bren felt truly anxious for the first time since their journey started and immediately closed her eyes and tried to put her mind somewhere else. She'd been through weeks of practice with this with her parents. She had to pin down each emotion and make it go away before it became too much. She felt scared because she was alone. She felt angry at Scorpio because he'd ALREADY gone and left her. She felt sad because she realized for the first time how far away from home she was.

As she breathed and tried to calm herself, she barely noticed someone entering the compartment.

"Are you scared of trains?" a male voice asked. Bren looked up through strands of hair. A boy with shaggy, dirty blonde hair and almost silver eyes was beaming at her.

"I…um…a bit?" she said quietly. The boy sat down without invitation.

"Are you a first year too? My name is Lysander. Lysander Scamander. No, you may not make fun of my name. What's your name?"

"Bren."

"Well that's easy enough. Any family at Hogwarts? I have a brother. He's gone to search for the trolley already. We're twins actually. But like…not identical? I mean, we look a lot the same, but he's taller." Bren wasn't sure why he felt this information was relevant to her but she nodded politely.

"My older brother, Scorpius…I'm not sure where he went off to."

There was an awkward silence, and Bren couldn't decide if she was supposed to say something to continue the conversation now or not. He'd asked a question. So maybe it was her turn to ask a question? That's how this whole "making friends" thing worked, right?

Luckily, she didn't have to. Before she knew it, he was launching into the whole story of their trip to the train station, and a silly fight he'd had with his brother, and Bren was able to just sit back and quietly listen. She liked this kid. If this was what making friends was, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

**A/N: Hope you liked it! I hope the pace alright. I was kind of in a hurry. And Lysander and his brother are Luna Lovegood's children. There's no info on their age or anything so I just took a few liberties there.**


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